No way those two teams should have kept it so close. Should have been 30 point blowouts.They were a huge coaching error (T.O. on 4th down stuff) away from losing against the sorry Ravens.

What will happen against Pittsburgh?

You know the pats have played 3 consecutive night games right? Maybe the team is a bit tired at this stage in the season.

240 do you actually believe no team in the NFL is good enough to hang with the patriots, ever? Do you think they are buying into all this media hype like they have never gone on a win streak before? They won 21 consecutive games a few years ago. Do you think the pats should win every single game by huge margins? Every team the pats play is now giving them there best shot. Pats players are human to. You are not going to play balls to the wall every single down, every game, all year.

Show me one team in NFL history out of the all time greats that did not have at least 4 close games. Hell the 85 bears had 5 close games including a loss.

To expect a team to blow out everyone is unrealistic. How did the bills almost beat the cowboys? Where they scared?

Did Pitt play scared when they dropped 3 games to the worst teams in the NFL? I dont see any patts players hyping anything up. I see the media and fans looking for every little reason to take a shot at a great football team.

I think these games where close because the eagles and the ravens played some awesome football games. Not to mention this team is coming off three consecutive night games , guys are tired. The Pitt game will be hard and tough. Short week for the pats coming off emotional games. This will be a realchallenge for them.

Don't downplay the night game thing. Brady mentioned it before the Ravens game. They are playing with alot of pressure. It really sucks because all they do is go out and win while the media builds them up and then cuts them down ona weekly basis. Running it up...or their old crap.

I think the pats probably just played the two worst games that they're gonna play during this regular season (and they still got W's) and that the chance of them having another off week is pretty slim.....

I would'nt be surprised if brady and company get things on track again and put up a 40 spot against pittsburgh.......question is how is ben and company gonna respond ?

The Pats are playing to get to the superbowl. Every team that plays them, plays like it's their superbowl. No letups, no easy games. Every team wants to be the fastest gun in the west and they play like it. The pats just keep winning. Winning by 30 or 3, a win is a win. (just not for gamblers)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass., Dec. 9 — A few hours before the New England Patriots became only the fifth team in N.F.L. history to win its first 13 games, a plane trailing a banner flew over Gillette Stadium bearing a none-too-subtle message: Bonds — 756*, Belichick — 3 Super Bowl wins*.

But as a chilly night fell over Foxborough on Sunday, Pittsburgh Steelers safety Anthony Smith might have offered a rejoinder to whoever paid for the plane: it is best not to show disrespect for the Patriots, at least not in range of a microphone. Smith, who last week guaranteed a Steelers victory, learned a lesson in the Steelers’ 34-13 loss to the Patriots, one that the rest of the league had figured out much earlier: the Patriots will embarrass whoever doubts them.

Early in the season, opponents received a taste of Patriots vengeance when the veracity of their championships was questioned in the wake of a videotaping scandal. Smith got it this week, when he was caught flat-footed on two touchdown passes by Tom Brady.

The Patriots did not bother to hide their disgust with Smith. After the game, Patriots Coach Bill Belichick could not resist a dig that the Patriots have played against better safeties than Smith. “The safety play at that position was pretty inviting,” Belichick said.

The Patriots caught Smith biting on a play fake on a 63-yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss. The other play in which Brady victimized Smith, a 56-yard flea-flicker to Jabar Gaffney, began with Moss dropping a lateral from Brady and ended when Brady’s pass sailed over Smith’s head into Gaffney’s hands. Belichick joked that Moss did a good job selling the play.

The Jets should probably remember that next week, when they step into the line of fire against the Patriots. It was the Jets who caught the Patriots videotaping on the sidelines during their Week 1 game at Giants Stadium. The motivation it provided the Patriots has seethed right below the surface all season. New England has seemed determined to prove to the league that it does not have to cheat to win. If a perfect season is the best possible revenge for the Patriots, they seem well on their way, having survived a stretch of three consecutive late games.

After the Jets (3-10) next week, the Patriots play the Miami Dolphins (0-13) at home and the Giants, who are likely to be locked into their playoff spot by then and will probably rest significant players. The Patriots will be playing only for history by then. With their victory against the Steelers, they secured a first-round bye. A victory against the Jets would wrap up the top seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

So much for the Patriots looking vulnerable. After consecutive 3-point victories against the Philadelphia Eagles and the Baltimore Ravens, in which their run defense was lacerated and Brady was under unusually stiff pressure, the Patriots returned to their dominating form against the Steelers, the best team remaining on their regular-season schedule and the likely third seed in the American Football Conference playoffs. The Patriots’ defense had looked shaky in recent weeks and it entered the game with three goals: defend the run, do better on third down and prevent scores in the red zone, a weakness all season. The Steelers rushed for 181 yards, but they were mostly inconsequential, and they were just 5 for 14 on third-down conversions.

On their first drive, the Steelers settled for a field goal after they were held on a first-and-goal at the 7-yard line. Early in the fourth quarter, the Patriots stuffed a sweep by Hines Ward on fourth-and-1 from the 1, a play that essentially ended the game.

But as usual this season, it was the Patriots’ offense that dominated the game. Brady shredded the Steelers, who entered the game ranked first in the league in scoring defense, total defense and rushing defense. So the Patriots passed. And passed. And passed. From late in the second quarter until garbage time at the end of the game, the Patriots did not call a single running play, a stretch of 34 pass plays, unusual for a team playing with a lead and an example of why the Patriots are so difficult to defend, even when the defense is renowned for blitzing.

Brady threw for 399 yards and 4 touchdowns, giving him 45 for the season, four short of Peyton Manning’s single-season record.

After the game, Smith did not back down from his guarantee, saying he would make it again and intimating that he expected the Steelers to face the Patriots in the playoffs. Perhaps so. But by then, the Patriots will probably not need extra motivation.

Night games are not a big deal if you play them spread out. But they can tire out a team if they clump them together.

If a team gets done playing at 12 pm instead of 5pm it has a effect on the players that Monday. Guys are gettting home late , not sleeping much after the game , tired at film break down Monday, all that.

If you are the away team you dont get back home until late the next day etc etc. Travelling is tough after a night game. You lose a day pretty much since guys are so beat when you get in Monaday. Again not a big deal if its a one time thing , just when you go through stretch runs of it.

The pats just came off three consecutive night games , which included a Monday night game this week. It was a very short week for the pats after a big stretch of night games.

Night games are not a big deal if you play them spread out. But they can tire out a team if they clump them together.

If a team gets done playing at 12 pm instead of 5pm it has a effect on the players that Monday. Guys are gettting home late , not sleeping much after the game , tired at film break down Monday, all that.

If you are the away team you dont get back home until late the next day etc etc. Travelling is tough after a night game. You lose a day pretty much since guys are so beat when you get in Monaday. Again not a big deal if its a one time thing , just when you go through stretch runs of it.

The pats just came off three consecutive night games , which included a Monday night game this week. It was a very short week for the pats after a big stretch of night games.

They done goooood

Maybe it was better to play them in a row. Made it like a mid season night shift! I think it only affects a game after the night game but it is not that big of a deal. Depends totally on from where you play it. Home night game is easier than a normal day game with six hour flight to get home. Maybe a delayed flight and all that? Of course those could all add up...

Anyway - I am certain that a good organization, such as New England, has made every arrangement neccesary for players best right after their schedule was revealed.

Maybe it was better to play them in a row. Made it like a mid season night shift! I think it only affects a game after the night game but it is not that big of a deal. Depends totally on from where you play it. Home night game is easier than a normal day game with six hour flight to get home. Maybe a delayed flight and all that? Of course those could all add up...

Anyway - I am certain that a good organization, such as New England, has made every arrangement neccesary for players best right after their schedule was revealed.

Nice points Jake.

The nfl has been bumping pats day games to night games for four consecutive weeks now. At least the jets game only got bumped to four.